The African Samurai

[ChrisNuttall]

According to the below book, an African bodyguard accompanied a Jesuit mission to China in the 16th century. This man, who took the name Yasuke, was either traded or gifted to a local warlord, the most powerful man in the region at the time, and became a trusted advisor and Samurai. His new master was on the brink of uniting the region and perhaps even forging a new Japan earlier than OTL.



Disaster struck after a series of victories. A warlord mounted a coup. The master was killed. Yasuke himself was returned to the Jesuits, fought to defend their colony and eventually vanished from history. (He may have left descendents in Japan, but evidence is lacking.)



What if Yasuke and his master had survived long enough to unite Japan earlier?



https://www.amazon.com/Yasuke-story...xt&sprefix=african+sa,digital-text,212&sr=1-2

 

[Bonniecanuck]

This is probably going to be more of a scenario that revolves around Oda Nobunaga, but at the very least, it can probably be expected that the presence of Europeans and their influence on Japan, including the use of firearms and Christianity, will remain stronger, especially if Nobunaga living to oversee a succession to his son prevents Hideyoshi stepping in and setting the precedents for sakoku almost half a century later. One thing I'm very curious about, though, is whether the Oda clan had a particular approach to government similar to that of the Tokugawa bakufu that emphasised a rigid and stratified society, and how people like Yasuke would have fit into that framework.